OAKLAND, California (Ticker) -- The San Antonio Spurs only
needed one of their "Twin Towers" to defeat the lowly Golden
State Warriors.

With David Robinson sitting out due to soreness in his lower
back, Tim Duncan had 28 points, nine rebounds and four blocks as
the Spurs inched closer to home-court advantage throughout the
playoffs with a 84-76 victory over the surprisingly competitive
Warriors.

Golden State looked like it was on its way to snapping an
11-game losing streak against San Antonio but reverted to its
usual form in the third quarter.

The Warriors led by three when the Spurs reeled off 11 straight
points to take a 62-54 lead with 1:29 left in the third quarter.

Duncan scored four points during that spurt and Malik Rose
started and closed the run with short jumpers.

Duncan scored 10 points in the fourth period and Antonio Daniels
scored seven of his 19 points in the final quarter as San
Antonio moved 1 1/2 games ahead of Philadelphia for the best
record in the NBA.

"We've got five games left and every game is important," Duncan
said. "Our opponent doesn't matter. It's about the game and the
victory and that is what we're focusing on."

Danny Ferry added 10 points for the Spurs, who were beaten on
the boards, 53-41, without Robinson in the middle. He was
replaced by Samaki Walker, who collected six points and five
rebounds.

"(David) has a sore back," San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich
said. "He needs a little time to work it out, so we needed to
sit him tonight so he wouldn't injure it more seriously before
we get him home so he could straighten it out. I think he'll be
just fine."

"It's so difficult without David out there," Duncan said. "He's
such a big asset to our team with what he brings to the table
and his intimidation factor."

Rose chipped in nine points off the bench as San Antonio's
starting backcourt of Terry Porter and Derek Anderson combined
for just eight points on 2-of-13 shooting.

"Malik Rose and Antonio Daniels were the difference in the
fourth quarter and that's how our whole season has been," Duncan
said. "People keep stepping up. Somebody's down and another
person steps up."

"The Warriors had a lot to do with us not playing well,"
Popovich said. "They didn't give up. They didn't care who the
hell we were or what our record was and I think that's a credit
to them."

Vonteego Cummings had 16 points, seven rebounds and six assists
for Golden State, which has lost 18 of its last 19 games overall
and 12 of 13 at home.

"We wanted to compete for 48 minutes and we did that for about
44," Cummings said. "I'll take the energy everyone played with.
If we played like that all year, we would have come up with a
lot of games that we lost."

Antawn Jamison scored all 13 of his points after halftime and
tied a career high with seven assists after sitting out the
second quarter.

"Antawn didn't play in the second quarter because he didn't show
me very much," said Cowens. "He played much better in the second
half. Sometimes it's good for a guy to sit over there and look
at things for a while."

Corie Blount collected 10 points and 14 rebounds and rookie
Chris Porter chipped in 12 for the Warriors, who have not beaten
San Antonio since March 4, 1998.

Golden State shot just 36 percent (31-of-86) and made only
12-of-18 free throws, but held the Spurs 3-of-12 shooting from
3-point range.